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Installation instructions for whole rails stack

OK here is some good instructions that will take you step by step installing the whole ruby/rubygems/rails/lighttpd/fcgi/php stack. Hope it helps someone.

These instructions work on OSX, most linux distros and FreeBSD
You can skip ruby if you already have a good copy. But if you only have the
stock ruby that comes with OSX I would compile it from source and rename the
stock OSX ruby and irb to ruby.bak and irb.bak so you don't end up using
them on accident.
__________________________________________________ ______________
Get Ruby1.8.2

Here is a link for a sweet enhancement. Put this script in your RAILS_ROOT/script folder and put the lighttpd.conf file in RAILS_ROOT/config. Now you can launch your rails app by cdíing into your RAILS_ROOT for your app and typing:
$ruby script/lighty -p 7500 -e development (or whatever port & env you want to use)

Now you can hit http://localhost:7500/ and you will get your app running on lighttpd no muss no fuss. Very sweet for development. Here is the link: http://www.bigbold.com/snippets/posts/show/303 . Name the first ruby script lighty and name the config file lighttpd.conf. Now every time you start your app this way is creates a new lighttpd.conf in /tmp and starts lighttpd up with that file. This way you can give it command line options as to what port to bind to and others. Iím using this for development and it is sweet!

Is there really any need to download and compile so many source packageS?

I'd personally advise sticking to your distro of choices package management tool if at all possible, whether its apt, portage whatever. Grab Ruby, irb, rdoc and rake via your distros package management tool to get yourself up and running with Ruby, grab rubygems if your package manager also has it otherwise dload/compile/install, then use gems for your ruby packages; you'll need Rails and dependencies, the bindings for your database - MySQL and PostgreSQL both have pure Ruby and C bindings, and I'd also advise grabbing Bluecloth and Redcloth too.

Most package management systems should have the above, as well as Apache2 and lighttpd.

I really need to build a Linux box. My current desktop has way too many web servers on it (Tomcat, Apache/PHP, WEBrick for RoR)

This is whee something like VMware comes in handy.... with version 5, it's nice coz you can make a base install of Windows and/or linux and then make a linked clone to make customised versions. I have a virtual machine I will use for university work (which I can rsync to and fro from the laptop), one for test linux, one for playing about with Windows server stuff (i.e. if I need to use RIS to deploy workstation PC's, or use ASP.NET if I need to help a friend who uses that) etc etc. The nice thing I find is if you screw stuff up, you can quickly revert to earlier snapshots etc. Likewise, unlike dual boot, you don't have to keep switching OSes (which is something I found as you often install Linux, then have to go back to you other OS to download network/modem/ADSL drivers). Also, I can use the same virtual machines wherther I'm in Linux or doze (handy if I need to use VS.NET say from Linux)

Well - over the last month, I've tried every single set of installation instructions I've been able to find, on both Windows XP and MacOSX (Tiger)

and totally failed, until two days ago, to get a working Rails setup.
Which is kind of embarrassing for a professional programmer, even if it was in my spare time.

The closest I'd manager was under Tiger, where I got the standard MySQL problem.

FINALLY managed to get it working, under Tiger, using Locomotive, which makes it almost ludicrously simple (it took five minutes, from the time I clicked on the Locomotive link.)

Highly recommended for any other OSX folk with problems.

Now I just need to find the time to actually try it out...

I found (well my ex-boss) on OS X if you follow the right instructions generally things work. However, he did run into some issues I think at times, such as MySQL used to play up if you used CocoaMySQL

I did briefly look at building RPM's and to be honest, it's a nightmare. RPM is not the way forward.

if you are going down the autoconf route, I have seen people change the --prefix bit, so you compile the app outside the main bin/lib/include dirs for the fs. after that you can then modify your path variables to point to these external places. That way it is easier to manage for Makefiles such as apache which have no uninstall target. I haven't done this myself really, I normally just bite the bullet and build into /usr on RH systems.

Alternatively, use Gentoo, and then you have the flexiblity of compiling without compromising the ablity to uninstall, update etc. I would assume if you used an "testing" branch of debian, you can also get most things with apt get

I did briefly look at building RPM's and to be honest, it's a nightmare. RPM is not the way forward.

...

Alternatively, use Gentoo, and then you have the flexiblity of compiling without compromising the ablity to uninstall, update etc. I would assume if you used an "testing" branch of debian, you can also get most things with apt get

I cannot use Gentoo. I must use RedHat and derivates (Fedora Core).
All the servers I work on have Red Hat Enterprise 3 and at home I have Fedora Core 4.

It is easy to install software in Fedora Core 4 because now it comes with YUM but that's as long as there are the right RPM packages in the repositories.

I found (well my ex-boss) on OS X if you follow the right instructions generally things work. However, he did run into some issues I think at times, such as MySQL used to play up if you used CocoaMySQL

Generally, yes. But for a lot of people, no.
There's no point in giving a blow-by-blow here, as I've now got it installed, but problems usually seem to revolve around MySQL integration.

If you use MySQL 4.0.x, there shouldn't be a problem. If you use 4.1.x, you may well need to install the latest ruby_mysql - and not everyone manages that one. I've googled to death the link errors that I was getting - and can find no mention of them. Hence my joy at finding Locomotive.

I cannot use Gentoo. I must use RedHat and derivates (Fedora Core).
All the servers I work on have Red Hat Enterprise 3 and at home I have Fedora Core 4.

It is easy to install software in Fedora Core 4 because now it comes with YUM but that's as long as there are the right RPM packages in the repositories.

Ditto in my last job. However, I personally was getting frustrated with Redhat distros in general. Mainly because RPM is showing it's age / flaws and the release cycles are very slow. It's only in recent weeks I have ventured into other distros myself (having started learning linux using RH).

The problem with CentOS / RHEL is that if you can't get RPMs (which is often the case if the package is newer than a year), then you have to compile. The fun comes in with things like Apache and PHP which seem to have endless dependacies I found. That is one reason why I don't miss Apache or PHP.

I have no idea why so many hosting companies settle with Fedora, as I found it so buggy, and RHEL is so out dated. In fact I'm sure Debian's stable branch these days is more up to date!